Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: June 18-24, 2018 -- Something vaguely inspiring

Here we are, starting another week, and you know what that means: it's time for someone to weigh in on the best of the six reviews folks contributed to the site during the week that just ended. In this case, that someone is me. I'm also including overdrive's Dark Souls review from the previous week, since he was ineligible by virtue of being last week's judge.

Because there were only seven reviews and I had a variety of thoughts on most of them, I'm including critiques of every submission that was in the running this week. Below, you'll find first the critiques of reviews that didn't place (in no particular order), and then the top three placers after that.

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Dark Souls (Xbox 360) by overdrive

As I noted when providing feedback for this review near the time it was submitted, I thought the review went on a bit long but that it was mechanically quite polished. And it was a lot of fun to read, to boot. It's difficult to cover a game like Dark Souls at this point, which everyone and his dog seems to have reviewed at least once (sometimes as part of completely separate reviews, so popular has Dark Souls become), but this review makes a great attempt and pulls it off quite nicely, I thought.

The 25th Ward: The Silver Case (PS4) by pickhut

This review felt a bit loose in places, radiating outward from an introduction that made it clear the game is quite unique. I love little bits of history like the ones included in that intro, by the way. But after that, the review wandered around with less focus. As it did so, I developed an understanding of why you don't much like the game, and I also got a feel for how some key parts of it play, but I don't feel like I had a grounded sense of the game's progression overall. I suspect some of this is the fault of the subject matter, which sounds thoroughly bizarre. Some of it was due to the occasional distracting grammatical error. In any event, it was an entertaining review that told me about what sounds like an entertaining (though deeply flawed) game I was mildly curious about, so I consider all of that an overall win.

Devil May Cry 2 (PS2) by Follow_Freeman

I really liked this sentence: "Most of what's wrong with this game stems from just the two problems of the level design and the tedious combat, but they're big problems." It does a nice job of summing up your review in a clear manner, which is something some of the surrounding text sometimes needed to do a bit more efficiently. There are minor grammatical errors sprinkled throughout, and some of the sentences seem a bit too wordy for their own good (which likely contributes to the former). Sometimes less is more. Try varying sentence length within paragraphs, and varying paragraph length within the overall review. You're a good writer, so attention to finer details like that can push your text so it matches the quality of your analysis.

The Lost Child (PS4) by Phazonmasher

This is a quality review for an odd dungeon crawler. I didn't know The Lost Child was actually a follow-up game to El Shaddai, which I still need to actually play. I did feel like your score felt a bit high compared to what the text suggested, but that's probably because near the start you talked about potential that was "neutered." To me, figuratively having its balls chopped off doesn't leave a game in a good place to delight audiences, so the 4/5 rating came as a bit of a surprise. Still, it's clear you enjoyed the overall experience of playing the game, based on the things you talk about it doing right, so that's really just a little nitpick. The main thing is that readers should get through this review with a good idea how the game works and differs from its little-played predecessor, which is what's important.

Third Place: Golem (PC) by EmP

I like this review a lot, for its descriptions of the golem mechanics and the way it outlines how that golem grows increasingly useful over time. The description of the camera's revised mechanics threw me at first, though, until I recognized that you were talking about previous builds of the game you played before the current one you reviewed. I caught on eventually, of course. The concluding paragraph felt a bit vague to me, but not in a bothersome way because the review still served its purpose and told me about a neat little puzzle/adventure game I might enjoy if I ever find time to play it. Between all of those moments where I practice my evil laugh in front of a mirror so I can remain sufficiently nefarious.

Second Place: Gray Dawn (PC) by JoeTheDestroyer

I'm not big on horror games, as a general rule. But this game sounded interesting when PR offered to let the site cover it. And this review tells me that first impression--that the developer had pieced together a generally worthwhile horror title with strong psychological elements--was an accurate one. I love the descriptions and the flow of the text, but I think what I like most is the pervasive sense that the person telling me about the game likes the genre and is familiar with it (unlike me). Importantly, that text also doesn't seem to spoil anything. Instead, it gives me just enough details that I can picture myself playing and having fun. It's a great read.

Review of the Week: Breakout (Arcade) by Midcore

This is a fantastic review! In the line of constructive criticism, I would recommend losing the following two sentences: "In the face of such significant advancements, does the simplicity of the original Breakout retain its charm? Let’s find out." This feels unnecessary, because we're on the site reading a review, so the question is already implied. The teaser strikes a sour note in an otherwise splendid review, and if you chop the two sentences out, nothing seems to be lost. I'm really enjoying your historically minded looks at old arcade games, by the way. They are well written and informative without becoming dull, and you pick good subjects for your analysis. This type of review can be exceedingly difficult to get right, and you've done a wonderful job here and elsewhere. Keep 'em coming!

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My sincere thanks go out to all of you who got involved this week. I really love the variety of games we're discussing on the site as of late, and the quality of the criticism that's coming through on a regular basis. I hope you're all having fun in the process. I know I am!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

And Midcore does it again! Congrats! Thank you for placement, and congrats to EmP for placing as well. Mostly, though, thank you for having this topic out right away.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Thanks for the critique, Venter. I don't blame you for being confused reading about the game. The 25th Ward goes everywhere and nowhere with its flow, characters, dialogue, and mechanics. The notes I've written for the review are much, much, much longer than the review itself; I counted approximately 109 paragraphs, separated into their own sections so I wouldn't be lost myself. It's a hard read.

Congrats to Midcore for nabbing the RotW spot!

I head spaceshit noises.